Starkville, Miss. - After not giving up any goals in the first half of its first five games of the season en route to its best start ever at 4-1, the Memphis women's soccer team yielded two first half goals to Mississippi State on Tuesday night and then the Bulldogs held off a furious second half of attacking by the Tigers to defeat Memphis 2-0.

The Bulldogs struck first in the eighth minute of play as Karen Sandrick found herself wide open on the left side of the goal and beat Tiger goalkeeper Natalie Haerens to the far post. Then, at 24:01, Kevyn Shelledy took a well-placed pass from Sara Moore and slipped a one-timer past Haerens for a 2-0 advantage.

In the second half, the Tigers turned up the offensive pressure, as they took the first five shots of the second half. Their best chance to score came in the 58th minute when Madison Cheek had a clear breakaway but her shot was saved by MSU keeper Stephanie Dallas, who made six saves in the game to shut out the Tigers.

Memphis outshot Mississippi State 14-9 in the game and also had seven corner kicks to just two for the Bulldogs.

"I feel bad for the girls because they really played hard tonight," said Memphis coach Brooks Monaghan. "It could have easily have been 2-0 in our favor but you have to take the positives from this game and move on and learn from it."

The Tigers fall to 4-2 on the year with the loss in their final non-conference road game of the year. They will begin a four-game homestand on Friday when they take on Drury University at 7:00 p.m. at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex.